#TBT: Looking Back At HAMILTON's Off-Broadway Opening In Honor Of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Birthday

They'll tell the story of tonight because today, January 16, marks the birthday of legendary In the Heights and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. In honor of the occasion, we're looking back at where the story of the ten-dollar founding father began: The Public Theater. Check out the video to see Lin alongside Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and more celebrating the show's Off-Broadway opening night!

Since Hamilton's February 2015 debut at The Public Theater and subsequent transfer to Broadway that summer, Miranda has had five years, three tours, half a dozen productions, hundreds of pre-show concerts, and a star-stacked mixtape to say just about everything he could about creating one of the biggest Broadway musicals of all time. And he's heard everything you can hear about it, too.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning composer, lyricist, and performer, as well as a 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award recipient. His current musical, Hamilton - with book, music and lyrics by Mr. Miranda, in addition to him originating the title role - opened on Broadway in 2015. Hamilton was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and earned a record-breaking 16 Tony Nominations, winning 11 Tony Awards including two personally for Mr. Miranda for Book and Score of a Musical. The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton won the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Both Mr. Miranda and Hamilton won the 2016 Drama League Awards for Distinguished Performance and Outstanding Production of a Musical, respectively.

Hamilton's original Off-Broadway cast featured Carleigh Bettiol (Ensemble); Andrew Chappelle (Swing); Ariana DeBose (Ensemble); Alysha Deslorieux (Swing); Daveed Diggs (Marquis De Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson); Renée Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler); Sydney James Harcourt (Ensemble); Sasha Hutchings (Ensemble); Christopher Jackson (George Washington); Brian d'Arcy James (King George); Thayne Jasperson (Ensemble); Jasmine Cephas Jones (Peggy Schuyler, Maria Reynolds); Stephanie Klemons (Swing); Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton); Javier Muñoz (Hamilton Standby); Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr); Okieriete Onaodowan (Hercules Mulligan, James Madison); Anthony Ramos(John Laurens, Phillip Hamilton); Jon Rua (Ensemble); Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton); Seth Stewart (Ensemble); Betsy Struxness (Ensemble); Ephraim Sykes (Ensemble); and Voltaire Wade-Greene (Swing).

Hamilton is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation's first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, Hamilton is the story of America then, as told by America now. With book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and music supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow's biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.